The environment will be affected in many ways and our lives will be forever blighted by these massive towers:

Impact subjects:

• Visual
• Wildlife
  • Bats
  • Hares
  • Birds
  • Dee
  • Badgers
    
  • Voles
  • Horses
  • Others
• Wetlands
• Ramsar

Visual
This is the most subjective of topics. You either hate the very idea of 99 metre tall wind turbine towers or you see them as somehow saving the planet. Our Knoll is unique and one of the most visible parts of the Somerset Levels and Moors Natural Area. The area is a wonderful patchwork of fields huddling around the Knoll which is so obvious when viewed from the top of the hill and this patchwork will not be enhanced by the creation of a wind farm.

So you have to make you mind up. Either the lumbering turbines, which by the way, get very dirty or the view as it is now.

Bats
There are numerous bat colonies around Brent Knoll. At present it seems that most are Pipistrelle, the most common bat in the UK.

We have contacted The Bat Conservation Trust and as yet have not had a reply regarding the affect that a wind farm may have on our resident bats. When we have some definitive information, it will be posted here.

Formerly considered abundant, the brown hare appears to have undergone a substantial decline in numbers since the early 1960s, with population estimates now varying between 817,500 and 1,250,000. Information from shooting estates suggests that hare numbers have remained stable for the past ten years, although other evidence of this is unclear. Similar patterns of population change appear to have occurred throughout much of Europe.

Current factors causing loss or decline

• Conversion of grassland to arable.
• Loss of habitat diversity in the agricultural landscape.
• Changes in planting and cropping regimes, such as a move from hay to silage, and autumn planting of cereals.

Current action

• Various aspects of hare ecology have been studied in Britain at The Game Conservancy Trust, Bristol University and Oxford University.
• Populations are currently monitored through numbers of hares seen or shot during hunting, or numbers counted in spring.
• JNCC commissioned a survey from Bristol University which provides a baseline against which conservation policies and action may be assessed.
• Experimental work in Denmark suggests that simplified farming systems lead to reduced breeding performance. This appears to account for the link between hare numbers and farming pattern.

Action plan objectives and targets

• Maintain existing populations.
• Expand existing populations, doubling spring numbers in Britain by 2010.

Communications and Publicity

• Use the popularity of brown hares to highlight the impact on biodiversity of modern agricultural practices and loss of mixed farms.

So much will be written about the bird population of Brent Marsh, but at present our research is not finalised. We are very concerned about the potential disturbance to transitory birds making their way from one protected area to another.

We have also seen many birds on Brent Marsh seeking shelter during storms and we will explain more about this in the future.

All of these animals are found on Brent Marsh and we are currently looking into the possible damage to their habitat that industrialising the area will create. More on this as and when available

We re-print a section of the advisory note from The British Horse Society

• The Society is conscious of the need for developers and planners to be made aware of the safety implications to horses and their riders or drivers arising from the
  construction and operation of wind turbines in the vicinity of routes for riding and/or
  driving horse drawn vehicles (HDV).
  
  
• The natural instinct of a horse when faced with perceived danger is flight so its
  reaction depends very much on, in that first split second, the horse's perception of the hazard, and equally as important the riders/drivers ability to handle the horse or pony when faced with unexpected circumstances.
  
  
• The horse and rider unfamiliar with the area may react in a potentially dangerous
  manner to any of the following characteristics which can arise from the operation of a
  wind turbine:
  
  sudden appearance in the horses' sight line of turning blades,
  the low frequency noise emitted by the turbines punctuated by the "whoomph" as
  the blades pass the nadir point and sometimes said to be felt rather than heard,
  shadows sweeping the ground or bushes/trees in sunny weather,
  the unexpected starting up of the turbine if the wind builds up as the horse
  approaches.
  
  
• In addition to these particular characteristics, all of which would be affected by the
  weather conditions at the time, there could be dangers which arise from equipment
  failure or from the build up of ice on the blades but no matter the kind of danger
  perceived or faced, the likely risks can be significantly reduced simply by ensuring
  turbines are installed at a safe distance from equestrian routes.
  
  
• The British Horse Society adopted a policy in December 1995 which recommended a minimum distance between the base of any turbine and the nearest equestrian route, of 200 metres. However that distance was arrived at when the average height of proposed turbines was between 40 and 50 metres. In 1998, there have been applications for turbines of up to 100 metres high and it is therefore seen as essential that a formula is identified which will calculate the minimum safe distance, based on the actual height of the turbine.
  
  
• The Turnpike Act, 1822 specifically prohibited the erection of a windmill within 200
  yards of a turnpike road and the Highways Act 1835 specified a minimum distance of 50 yards between the base of a windmill and any part of any carriageway or cartway "so that the same may not be dangerous to passengers, horses or cattle". In those days, most members of the community would have been familiar with horses and been fully aware of their flight characteristics. Knowledge of horses is not as widespread these days, hence the need to draw attention to the potential dangers.
  
  
• The only recent guidance is contained in the Government's Planning Policy
  Guidance note PPG 22 Renewable Energy which arises in paragraph 37 - a set back
  from roads and railways of a least the height of the turbine. The equivalent document for Wales is PG (W) PP & TA No.8 Wales. However examples already exist where this advice has not been taken and the Society believes that much firmer government guidance is urgently needed to ensure that a minimum safe distance is applied.
  
  
• The British Horse Society advises that - before planning permission is granted for the installation of a wind turbine or turbines - consideration be given to requiring a safety margin between the proposed turbine(s) and the nearest public right of way or other access route available for use by horse riders and/or horse drawn vehicle (HDV) drivers. The Society is urging Government to revise its guidance so as to relate the safe minimum distance to the proposed height of the nearest turbine on the basis of a least three times the height - reflecting the guidance given in earlier times. In the meantime, the Society urges that all developers and planners recognise a 200 metre safety margin as being the absolute minimum for limiting the potential impact on equestrian interests.
  
  
• Developers have been known to wish to use bridleways or byways for access to the wind farm site during the construction phase. The Society is opposed to such use. The Society fears that heavy vehicle use of unsurfaced routes may result in irreversible damage and planning authorities are asked to take this into account. However, if a planning authority is satisfied that no alternative exists to the use of public rights of way as construction routes, any permission should be subjected to specific conditions regarding maintenance and reinstatement and these should be enshrined within the planning consent.
  
  
• Planning Policy Guidance Note 7 (PPG 7), The Countryside - Environmental Quality and Economic and Social Development makes a positive statement about horse riding and gives advice on the need to consider the impact of proposed developments on public rights of way (Para. 3.13). Similar advice is given in the equivalent guidance issued by the Welsh Office. In view of this guidance the Society believes it ought to be consulted on any planning cases which may impact on equestrian use of or condition of a public rights of way.
  
  Brent Knoll has become a "mecca" for horse riders and owners, and we believe they must consider the threat that the turbines have on their animals.
  

We have asked various bodies for their opinion on the possible detrimental affect this could have on Brent Marsh and as soon as we have some responses we will publish them here.

The Somerset Levels and Moors Natural Area is well documented at the following English Nature webpage, and is useful background information:

http://www.english-nature.org.uk/science/natural/profiles/naProfile85.pdf

The Convention on Wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971, is an intergovernmental treaty which provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. There are presently 150 Contracting Parties to the Convention, with 1560 wetland sites, totaling 130.5 million hectares, designated for inclusion in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance. As can be seen from the simple map below, Brent Marsh exists between two RAMSAR areas, The Severn Estuary and The Somerset Levels and Moors